-[Geek Climber] I have been climbing on the MoonBoard lately.
And I noticed that there are some routes
that I couldn't finish because there are moves
like undercling and gaston involved.
I know my fingers could be weak
in those positions because it's not possible
to train undercling and gaston on a hangboard.
But I decided to reach out to my strong friend, Peter,
to see if there's any room for improvement for my technique.
First, I showed Peter the undercling start
of astro-creep that I'm having trouble with.
-[Peter] The undercling is very hard from up here
and it gets easier and easier and easier and easier.
And when it's down here, it's very easy.
So for the undercling, your goal is to get it
into as close and below you as possible
because when it's up here, all you're using is fingers
and it's unbelievably difficult.
But when you bring it here and you pull it in,
it's not just your fingers.
It's your biceps. It's your pec. It's
everything else working in conjunction
to keep this thing close to you.
So maybe your foot is a little too low.
-[Geek Climber] Yeah.
-[Peter] Let's take a look.
-[Geek Climber] Oh, nice.
-[Peter] Okay, so move the right foot over just one, one and up.
Make sure you get into a comfortable position first.
Come on.
Yes. Yes. Yes!
Yes, come on.
Nice and easy.
Nice.
Next.
-[Geek Climber] Peter asked me to do the undercling style of Nimbus
to make sure I really understand the technique.
-[Peter] I can tell you what your first mistake already is.
Okay.
The first thing you did wasn't a mistake.
Do you remember what I said about underclings being very hard
up here to get easier down here?
So instead of starting like this, just start
like this if you're already in a good position.
You just get your foot on and then go.
So start with your arm already
like... There you go.
-[Geek Climber] I'm just going to-
-[Peter] There you go.
And go.
There you go.
Just get the right foot on and back flag into it.
Nice.
Come on, dude.
It's easy from here.
There you go.
Yes!
Right there.
Perfect.
(bell rings)
Nice job! Gastons and underclings are very similar.
Usually what that is, the farther away
from your body, the harder it's going to be.
If you see a lot of problems where they
have moves like this, you got to go
hit the gaston
and then immediately pull in like this.
That's because this position is way
more difficult to hold than this position.
The more you get that gaston in close to your body,
then the better it will be.
You don't want to rely on just your fingers.
If you get the gaston,
now you have your bicep; you have your shoulders;
you have everything working to keep your body into the wall
-[Geek Climber] After hearing what Peter said
I decided to show Peter a gaston
finish of Te gusta that I'm having a hard time with.
-[Peter] Let me try to see if I could run through it.
-[Geek Climber] Oh, man!
-[Peter] Yeah.
Instead of stepping on the point, do it like a directional.
So you can actually use your foot and pull.
It's like a heel hook, except it's your toe.
You place it here. Release the right foot.
You just pull into it and then pop.
It feels unstable, but you just gotta trust it.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
Go.
-[Geek Climber] Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish it.
So Peter decided to make up a route
with an easier gaston move for me.
-[Peter] Yeah, that should be good.
Yes. Come on.
Tight, tight, tight. Look at hold. Look at the hold.
Yes, yes, yes.
Turn the knee.
Come on. Come on. Come on.
I think that the bigger issue for you is just foot tension,
especially the gaston moves.
Be able to hit something with your hand like this
and keep everything still tight.
Yes, go; go.
-[Geek Climber] I wasn't able to finish Peter's route
at the spot but I was able to come back
and finish it the other day.
I also attempted Te gusta multiple times
but unfortunately still wasn't able to nail
the top gaston move in time for this video.
Here's a clip of Peter with the perfect technique
of gaston and undercling to make
this V7 called Samsquatch at Malibu look easy.
-[Peter] This was a pretty unique boulder
that had a few tricky portions that I really had
to think about and work through.
Right off the bat the trickiest bit
of the boulder was the first move.
There's a reason why I opted to flip my hand
upside down with my palm facing
up rather than straight into the undercling.
And it's all about body positioning.
This was actually quite a good hold.
I could get all my four fingers
into it, almost half a pad each.
So it's quite good.
But if I were to go straight into the undercling
it's not impossible, but it would have made
the next move very, very difficult.
With underclings, you want to achieve
an optimal body position so that
the hold doesn't feel bad anymore.
Aim to pull the undercling into your chest
or even your stomach.
If it is around that area,
then you begin to engage your biceps
and it takes a lot of load off the fingers.
If you have to reach for an undercling that is too high,
place your fingers carefully, take your time,
and then work through it. Hold your body up and into it
and it will begin to feel better and better.
The key is to get up into the undercling.
The next move I pull into the gaston,
but like the previous move, the gaston was a bit
too high and out of the optimal body positioning.
If it's either too high or too far,
you want to stand up into it while
also pushing with the opposing hand.
The more you push yourself into and towards
the gaston; then you start to engage your shoulders and lats
and it takes a lot of the pressure off the fingers.
Just like the undercling with the biceps taking
the pressure off the fingers, your shoulders
and lats need to be engaged to take
the pressure off the gaston.
At this point, I am comfortable enough
in the gaston to flip my left hand into an undercling.
If you notice my bicep is engaged,
the undercling is sort of level with my abdomen.
This is actually the most comfortable
and uncompromised I felt during this whole boulder,
and I'm able to easily throw for the lip.
-[Geek Climber] Thanks for watching.
I encourage you to find a MoonBoard
and try that exact same moves taught by Peter.
I'm also pretty sure that I'll get stuck
on other MoonBoard moves along the way
and I'll be reaching out to more strong friends for advice.
So we can all learn together from them.
Be sure to like, subscribe and check out
my website, geekclimber.com
See you in the next video.